Insights from the 2017 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Davos

Introduction

Thank you for inviting me to lunch today. I’ve been asked to give some thoughts on what I took away from the Davos meetings that I attended in January. As you know, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Annual Meeting brings together world leaders from business, politics and other fields to discuss the key challenges we all face now and in the future.

I have now had the privilege of attending the Annual Meeting twice – I went for the first time in 2016, and then again in January this year. Each time I have attended this conference, I have been struck by the quality of the discussions I have listened and contributed to, as well as the enormous range of ideas that are expressed.

I should also point out that a number of the themes raised at Davos were also picked up and developed at our Annual Forum held recently in Sydney.

Today, I would like to cover two main topics:

First, I want to talk about responsive and responsible leadership, which was the overarching theme of Davos this year.

Second, I will share with you what I thought were the three most prominent ideas that came out of the sessions I attended. Specifically these were:

the need for greater inclusion

the challenges we face in financing global infrastructure

the impact of artificial intelligence and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.